Save the grizzly

Re: “Logging in bear habitat worries environmentalists,” Jan. 4.

Does Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (ASRD) really have any plan to help save the endangered grizzly bear, or are they just making policies to please public opinion?

ASRD first bans hunting, then lists the grizzly as endangered, but now ASRD is allowing a very sensitive and grizzly populate area in the Castle to be logged, so what is their plan? Does the Alberta government really care about protecting the grizzly or does profit become more important than saving an iconic Alberta animal? No matter how the ASRD attempts to justify the logging in the Castle region, it will most certainly have a drastic effect on the grizzly population.

Simply adding even temporary roads to do the logging will disrupt the grizzlies’ habitat and place a great deal of stress on their home environment as the area is selectively logged. Even if these roads are only temporary, it could still provide additional access long term to an area which already has excessive roads in prime grizzly territory.

ASRD has so far spent many years providing Band-aid solutions to save the endangered grizzly. The latest approval of logging in the Castle region just further demonstrates that ASRD and the Alberta government are not serious about saving the grizzly from extinction. If Premier Alison Redford really wants to support something that is important to Alberta, then she should show that she and her government want to save the grizzly and, at the very least, stop this logging,

Nigel J. Higenbottam, Calgary